Budget birthday bashes: 31 ideas for party planning on the cheap

Birthday parties in my house are a huge deal. My oldest are twins and were born over two months premature. Their fate was uncertain for the first months of life and they had significant health struggles. So, when they reached their first birthday, we went all out. We had 70 guests, a lavish meal, cutesy outfits for the birthday twins a margarita machine for the adults and much more.

Fast forward seven years and two more kids, and the twins just turned eight. I still wanted to throw them a great party, but as time has gone on and the number of friends has increased, we need to keep our budget in check.

Here's what I've learned about creating a celebration the kids will remember that doesn't drain our bank account.

Party planning

1. Join forces: If your child has a good friend or relative whose birthday is around the same time, consider having a joint birthday party. You can pool your resources and throw a fun bash for half the cost. My youngest child's birthday is three days after the twins'. In the coming years, we may celebrate three kids all at once.

2. Pare down the festivities: Host a great party for your immediate family and grandparents, decorate the house with balloons and make crowns for the birthday prince or princess. Then ask your child to pick a handful of close friends to invite on a special outing, such as a movie or the zoo. The birthday child will feel like he got two celebrations when both are actually quite small and inexpensive.

The guest list

3. Trim it: instead of inviting your child's entire soccer team or the whole class, invite just a few close friends. To avoid hurt feelings, invite just the boys for your birthday prince's party or just the girls to your daughter's. And remember not to hand out invitations at school if everyone's not invited.

4. Simplify for more: If you want to invite the whole crew (like we always do), simplify your offerings. Just do cake and juice instead of a whole meal, and don't feel obligated to send home a goody bag.

5. Just include close family: Though you may be worried about offending your great-aunt by not inviting her, it's nothing to lose sleep over. Recognize the fact that your child is really close to your parents and doesn't even know your third cousin. Invite only close family members to the party, and let guests really get to spend quality time with each other without the hustle and bustle of a big crowd.

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Invitations

6. Make them yourself: Have your child decorate invitations as part of a fun craft you can do together. Kids love to go crazy with makers, glitter and stickers. You could also repurpose some of that stockpile of kid art you have cluttering up your house by gluing it to cardstock and writing the party info over the top.

7. Send an email: You can use a website such as Evite.com to send fun invitations directly to guests' email addresses, or even just send your own email with basic party information.

8. Make a call: If you're just inviting close family, there's no reason to do anything more than pick up the phone and chat.

9. Get social: Why not create a Facebook event for the party? While this isn't the most personal form of communication, it gets the job done. And, let's face it, that invitation you agonized over will get tossed in the recycling bin after the party's over anyway (Someone should have told me that when I was planning my wedding!)

Decor

A great way to cut costs is to avoid all those cute but pricey themed decorations at your local party store. Here's how to keep the decor on-theme within a budget:

10. Buy plain balloons and have your child decorate them with markers.

11. Get creative and make a papier mache pinata rather than buying a pre-made one from the party store.

12. Purchase a solid-colored paper roll at a party supply store and have your guests decorate the table cloth and their drinking cups as part of the party activities.

13. Buy flowers at your local supermarket on sale and place them in vases around the party venue. The touch of color will add to the ambiance but won't cost too much.

Flowers from the grocery store are a budget-friendly alternative to lots of themed decorations.(Photo: Submitted Photo)

14. Even if you're having a Mickey Mouse party, there's no need to buy plates, napkins and cups with Mickey, Minnie and Pluto on them. Instead, opt for solid-colored paper goods. Then just purchase character paper goods for some of the meal, such as for dessert plates or just napkins.

15. Buy in bulk! Warehouse stores like Costco and Sam's Club have utensils, plates and napkins for a fraction of the price. While they're not brightly colored, they get the job done, and they won't take away from the party. Plus, you can use the extras for next year's party, for a holiday celebration or when you and your family want to have a picnic.

The venue

16. Nature time: Instead of paying venue fees by having your party at the zoo or a local gymnastics studio, have your party at a local park. Many local parks allow patrons to reserve a seating area for a very minimal cost, and then the kids have the run of the playground too.

17. Home sweet home: We have a big backyard, so we're fans of home parties. If you're like us, have your party at home and spend money on renting a party attraction like a bounce house or hundreds of water balloons. Also consider investing in a tent you can re-use for years to come.

Renting a bounce house for a backyard party is a less expensive alternative to hosting a party at an inflatable destination.(Photo: Submitted Photo)

The activities

18. Make it meaningful: When planning the agenda, select activities that have meaning to your child. If she's a firetruck enthusiast, consider having the guests make thank you cards for local firefighters and then deliver the cards to the firehouse while also checking out the trucks (Make sure to clear this with the fire department first!)

19. Get artsy: Create art projects to donate to your child's favorite charity or to a cause which has affected your family. For us, that means artwork to hang in a NICU at a local hospital.

20. Old-school fun: Play vintage party games such as freeze tag, musical chairs, hot potato, kick the can and ring around the rosy.

21. Seek out your fun: Send the kids on a scavenger hunt around your house or supervised around your neighborhood.

22. Invest in future party fun: For our twins' third birthday, I purchased a parachute on Amazon for under $30. We've used it for every birthday since! I just blow up balloons for the kids to fling into the air with the parachute. Even at seven years old, the kids thought it was so much fun. Plus, there are so many parachute game ideas online which I rotate through year after year.

A $30 parachute and a bunch of inflatable balls make for a great party activity.(Photo: Submitted Photo)

The menu

23. Shop local: To save on food costs, shop local farmer's markets, co-ops and local farms for fresh produce, and plan the menu around what's in season.

25. Scout out sales: Your child's birthday is the same day every year; that makes it easy to plan ahead! Make your meal plan way in advance and shop grocery store sales in the weeks prior to your party.

26. Forget the meal: Invite your guests over between mealtimes for cake and beverages. This will cut down tremendously on your costs, and your little guests won't know the difference.

27. Go homemade: When selecting your cake, why not bake it yourself? There are even edible markers available so your birthday boy or girl can help you decorate. If your child simply cannot live without that "Star Wars" cake, have him pick out the design at a local grocery store and purchase a small cake for the birthday song and candles. Have your guests chow down on homemade cupcakes, and save the little cake to eat as a family later.

Stick with small themed cakes to share with immediate family with homemade cupcakes for the party guests to save money.(Photo: Submitted Photo)

28. Pot luck: Ask your family and friends to help out with refreshments. Provide the cake and punch yourself, and have your mom bake cupcakes and your mom bring brownies to round out the offerings.

The goody bag

There's no need to go broke filling a bag with tons of treats and gifts for the guests to take home with them. It's super easy to come up with a few inexpensive options to give out as tokens of thanks. Here are some options:

29. Make cookies with the birthday child beforehand and place them in decorative bags.

30. Shop the dollar bins at your local bulk store. Target sells character cups for $1 each. I often buy those and fill them with a few items. The parents will appreciate them as well since they're useful after the party's over as snack cups, chalk holders, pencil holders and more.

31. Consider having a party activity double as the take-away present. For instance, have your guests decorate inexpensive t-shirts with paints or plastic cups for drinking punch.

Birthdays are definitely worth celebrating, but there's no need to spend a lot of money. Simple is often better as long as it's meaningful.

Liz Braatz is mom to four kids ages 8 and under. In her "free time," she works as a grantwriter at Discovery World.